Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen ended Friday leading an interrupted Rally Poland after World Rally Championship organisers were forced to cancel two stages due to spectator controlling issues.

Mikkelsen won two of the three morning stages to open up a 7.4s lead before briefly losing the advantage to Toyota’s reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera. After recording his first stage wins since 2019, Mikkelsen managed to reclaim the advantage to end the day 1.8s ahead of the Finn.

Organisers were forced to step in to cancel stage three [Wieliczki] this morning and stage seven [Olecko] in the afternoon, after sections of spectators were standing in dangerous positions.

Amid the truncated proceedings, Toyota’s Evans managed to successfully limit the damage of his elevated road position to emerge as Mikkelsen’s nearest rival up until the final stage, where he fell to third, 0.2s behind Rovanpera

Rovanpera was frustrated for much of the day by a lack of refined pacenotes following a rushed preparation for the event as a last-minute stand in for injured team-mate Sebastien Ogier.

M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux will head into Satruday sititng foruth [+7.5s] after leapfrogging his Rally1 debutant team-mate Martins Sesks, who produced arguably the drive of the day to claim fifth [+7.7s], piloting a non-hybrid powered Ford Puma Rally1.

Gregoire Munster [+21.3s], championship leader Thierry Neuville [+29.8s], who opened the gravel roads, and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta [+32.3s] rounded out the top eight.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak retired from the lead after a collision with a deer on stage two.

Friday afternoon began with the Mikolajki service park receiving a storm warning, but conditions remained hot and dry heading into stage five [Stanczyki 29.40km].

Tyre choice proved to be crucial as the second pass through the stage created a much more abrasive surface than expected.

Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Tomasz Kalinski

Toyota appeared best set up for the stage after its drivers elected to take two hard tyres in their tyre packages. Rally leader Mikkelsen also opted for that strategy but it wasn’t enough for the Norwegian to protect his advantage at the front.

Mikkelsen struggled with soft tyres on the rear of his i20 N and dropped 14.4s which coincided with Rovanpera delivering his best drive of the rally to date to win the stage to leap from fourth to the rally lead by 0.2s.

The Finn, who had a rushed recce and not the most refined pacenotes, benefitted from having already made one pass through the stage.

«It’s definitely much more fun in the afternoon when I know where I’m going,» said Rovanpera.

Rovanpera claimed the stage win by a margin of 4.7s from Evans, who dropped to third overall, 2.4s adrift.

Sesks continued his charge posting the third quickest time, 8.1s slower than Rovanpera, to sit third overall.

Martins Sesks, Renars Francis, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: Tomasz Kalinski

Those running four soft tyres struggled to reach the stage end with visibly worn rubber. Fourmaux was fourth fastest ahead of the improving Katsuta, with Neuville dropping 12.2s in sixth having been affected by road cleaning.

The rally lead changed hands again after a red flag interrupted stage six [Wieliczki 12.90km]. Organisers were forced to cancel the same test in the morning due to spectator safety issues.

The stoppage came while Mikkelsen was in the stage which meant the former rally leader had to complete in road mode. Although frustrated by the red flag, the notional time actually put him back in the rally lead by two seconds from Evans.

Neuville lit up the timing screens to win the stage, replicating his stage-topping time before it was cancelled in the morning. The Belgian made the most of his cleanest run of the day to pip Katsuta and Evans by 0.2s. The time brought Neuville within 8.8s of Munster sitting in fifth overall.

Evans’ effort elevated the Welshman ahead of Rovanpera by a tenth, but the latter was again frustrated by his lack of refined pacenotes.

Organisers again had to intervene by cancelling stage seven [Olecko 13.20km] due to small sections of spectators standing in dangerous positions.

The stage was halted after Fourmaux, Evans and Neuville passed through the test with the former topping the times.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Controlling spectators was an issue the last time the WRC visited Poland back in 2017 which resulted in the event dropping off the calendar. Poland’s return to the calendar this year is a one-off.

«Clear decisions are being made in the name of safety,» WRC event director Simon Larkin told Aotorsport.com.

«One of the unintended consequences of cancelling stages is that messaging does get out saying ‘don’t be an idiot’ otherwise you wreck it for everyone and yourself. These people that are standing in bad positions are wrecking their own day.

«There are a lot of marshals out there and what we have seen is, for want of a better word there are a lot of professional spectators out there that know where to hide when the safety cars come through and then they flood back out of the forest.

«This is not a casual fan doing this, these people know what they are doing they want to risk their lives, but we don’t want to risk their lives.»

Katsuta and Rovanpera set identical times to win the day’s final stage, a second run through the Mikolajki Arena Super Special. The time lifted Rovanpera to second ahead of Evans.

In WRC2, Sami Pajari led local hero Kajetan Kajetanowicz by 8.9s. Seven stages await the crews on Saturday.    

Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen heads into Friday afternoon with the Rally Poland lead from Martins Sesks, who stunned on his World Rally Championship Rally1 debut.

Mikkelsen impressed throughout the morning to win two of the three stages to leap into a 7.4s lead from Sesks, who is driving a non-hybrid powered Ford Puma Rally1 car.

Elfyn Evans limited the damage of starting high in the road order to lead Toyota’s charge in third [+11.9s] ahead of Sebastien Ogier’s replacement Kalle Rovanpera [+14.2s], with M-Sport’s Adrien Foumaux in fifth [+15.1s].

M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster [+15.9s], championship leader Thierry Neuville [+32.2s] and Takamoto Katsuta [+38.0s] rounded out the Rally1 field after Ott Tanak’s retirement.

The overnight leaderboard was turned on its head after the day’s opening stage two [Stanczyki, 29.40km] when leader and rally favourite Tanak came to a sudden halt.

The Hyundai driver had started Friday with a one second lead over team-mate Thierry Neuville after winning Thursday night’s super special.

However, Tanak was forced to pull off the road 18.3km into the test with damage to the front of his i20 N after hitting a deer. Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja escaped unscathed following the crash.

This handed his team-mate Mikkelsen the rally lead, as the Norwegian claimed his first stage win since 2019 Wales Rally GB on his third outing of the season in the third i20 N. Mikkelsen was 0.3s faster than Sesks.

Martins Sesks, Renars Francis, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

Reigning world champion Rovanpera climbed from seventh to third overall with the third fastest time in the stage. The Toyota driver, who received a last-minute call up to replace Ogier following the Frenchman’s road traffic accident while gathering pacenotes, was frustrated by not being able to push due to his rushed preparation for an event that was not originally part of his limited schedule of events this year.

M-Sport’s Fourmaux moved to fourth, which he shared with Evans, 8.0s adrift of Mikkelsen.

Organisers were forced to cancel stage three [Wieliczki, 12.90km] for spectator safety reasons. The decision arrived after Neuville, Evans, Fourmaux and Katsuta had completed their passes through the test.

With the road cleaning effect not as bad, Neuville clocked the fastest time of the quartet, 0.5s faster than Evans, with Fourmaux 0.7s adrift and Katsuta 3.5s back after a lucky escape when he briefly ran off the road.

Notional times were awarded to those unable to pass through the stage. It meant Mikkelsen kept his 2.2s lead over Sesks, while Evans moved ahead of Rovnapera into third.

Road cleaning was much more of factor in the morning’s final test [Olecko, 13.20km], which was reflected in the times.

Mikkelsen, starting seventh on the road, made the most of the road conditions which were still slippery when he passed through. He won a stage which was new for all the crews by 3.1s from Munster, who delivered a committed run that included a wild moment over a jump. The subsequent landing briefly winded co-driver Louis Louka.

“We had a good stage; we’re trying to do the best we can,” said Mikkelsen. “The car is really nice to drive, still quite slippery on the surface, and you still have to take a bit of care.”

Evans was a second further back, but his effort was impressive given he was second in the road order. Road sweeper Neuville dropped 11.7s after suffering a handbrake issue, adding further woe to the disadvantage of opening the road.

Meanwhile the eye-catching start to Sesks’ Rally1 debut continued as the Latvian clocked the fourth best time to remain second overall.

Rovanpera was 1.1s slower than Sesks, but maintained fourth position while clearly affected by his rushed preparation.

“Not so easy,” commented Rovanpera. “It’s quite funny; last night I was watching an [on-board] video on the laptop and I fell asleep on the laptop. With this road position, we should be 10 seconds faster.”

Sami Pajari ended the morning leading the WRC2 class from local hero Kajetan Kajetanowicz by 4.1s, while title contenders Oliver Solberg and Gus Greensmith dropped to seventh and eighth in class respectively after struggles.

Crews will repeat the stages this afternoon, before ending the day with a blast around the Mikolajki Arena super special.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak moved into an early lead at Rally Poland after edging his team-mate and World Rally Championship points leader Thierry Neuville on Thursday night’s opening stage.

Poland’s return to the WRC for the first time since 2017 began with a run through the side-by-side Mikolajki Arena spectator stage in front of a packed crowd.

Tanak faced M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux in his head-to-head where he beat the Frenchman by 1.9s. The time was good enough to win the stage by a margin of 1s over Neuville, who defeated title rival Toyota’s Elfyn Evans in their duel by 0.3s.

“I enjoy these roads, but they are not easy at all, everything needs to be spot on,” said Tanak, at the stage end as he looked ahead to Friday’s running. “You need to have full confidence in everything around you so we will find out tomorrow what we are feeling.”

Evans clocked the third fastest time, 0.3s quicker than his Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta.

Andreas Mikkelsen, making his third start of the season in the third Hyundai i20 N, ended the stage fifth [+1.8s] after winning his heat against reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Fourmaux slotted into sixth [+1.9s] ahead of Rovanpera [+2.1s], following his last-minute call up to replace Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier who was forced to withdraw from the event following a road traffic crash while completing the event recce on Tuesday.

Rovanpera, who only completed his event recce earlier today, believes it isn’t possible to fight for victory after his rushed and limited event preparation.

“I don’t think we can win at least not in reasonable or safe way,” said Rovanpera. “It is super annoying as you come here just to have a good finish, but when you drive it is shit if you don’t try to win.

“I don’t try to win this time, there is no point, we are too late with everything and tonight will be super long [preparing for tomorrow’s stages], so it is not going to be easy.”

M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster cut an angry figure at stage end after his Ford Puma picked up damage to its windscreen from gravel flicked up during his heat against Katsuta.

“When they [organisers] said they would put water down [on the gravel] they should do it properly as it is way too dry,” he said. “My windscreen is not completely damaged but if we get any impact tomorrow it is going to be worse. It is stupid.”

Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

Martins Sesks beat WRC2 runner Oliver Solberg to round out the Rally1 runners on his class debut driving a non-hybrid powered version of the M-Sport Ford Puma.

Solberg topped the WRC2 class despite losing his head-to head in which his Skoda’s windscreen also suffered damage from airborne gravel. Solberg was 1.6s faster than nearest WRC2 rival and Citroen driver Nikolay Gryazin, while Skoda’s Gus Greensmith was third, 0.1s behind Gryazin.

Six gravel stages split by a tyre fitting zone await the crews on Friday.

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